Calcific aortic stenosis is a common cause of acquired valvular heart disease with substantial morbidity and mortality. Its incidence increases exponentially in older patient populations. Fibrosis, degeneration and subsequent calcification are no longer believed to be passive or purely degenerative in nature, but in fact are predominantly active processes mediated by underlying cellular mechanisms. Over time, as fibrosis and calcification worsens, valve leaflets become increasingly rigid, restricting their ability to open. This in turn, then impedes the antegrade flow of blood through the heart resulting in several clinical syndromes including most significantly progressive heart failure. Other causes of deformed and stenotic aortic valvular lesions include rheumatic heart disease, as well as nonacquired (i.e. congenital) heart disease. Initial stages of stenotic valvular heart conditions are well tolerated by the patient, but when leaflet restriction becomes severe, drastic measures such as aortic valve replacement have commonly been required.
With the advent of catheter-based cardiovascular procedures, minimally invasive valvuloplasty techniques were developed to dilate stenosed valves, most commonly calcific aortic stenosis but also rheumatic and congenitally stenosed leaflets using catheter balloons. During this procedure, a catheter having a deflated balloon is percutaneously inserted into a vein or artery and advanced until the balloon is positioned within the heart valve needing treatment. The balloon is then inflated to dilate the diseased valve opening, disrupting the rigid sheets of calcium permitting enhanced leaflet mobility. Balloon dilation, depending on the disease process, may result not only in the development of numerous flexible hinge points within fibrosed and calcified leaflets but, in addition, separation of fused commissures can take place. After the leaflets have been dilated, the balloon is deflated and removed from the patient's cardiovascular system.
In many current instances, valvuloplasty is performed with polyethylene balloon catheters which can achieve relatively high pressures at a fixed diameter. Balloons made of non-distensible plastic materials are expanded using fluid pressure up to a certain diameter after which, increases in fluid pressure within the balloon produce very little change in balloon diameter. These balloons can achieve high pressures for an effective therapy, but inherent to this plastic material are several limitations. The profile of these balloons can be somewhat reduced by prefolding during the manufacturing process. However, once inflated, the folded balloon segments are expanded within the vascular system and when deflated for removal, do not return to their compact, prefolded state but to a flattened state with a much larger profile. Withdrawal of these balloons therefore requires larger vascular introductory sheaths and thereby increases the risk of trauma to the vessels, resulting in compromised blood flow to an extremity or post operative bleeding. Additionally, non-distensible balloons also have thick cones—transitions from the cylindrical diameter to the catheter shaft diameter. These regions of the balloon make the catheter stiff increasing the risk of vascular trauma and making it difficult to advance through tortuous peripheral arterial anatomy.
Since the radial dimensions of the catheter balloon must greatly increase when inflated to achieve aortic valve dilation, a highly elastic material such as latex can be used, but with significant limitations. Distensible balloons use these elastic materials and generally have excellent initial profiles and improved flexibility for introduction and travel through the vascular system. In addition, they possess good deflated profiles for removal from the vascular system. However, elastic materials such as this continue to expand in diameter as pressure increases and therefore have no inherent limit on maximal diameter as with non-distensible balloons. Thus, distensible balloons can be unsafe for such a purpose as valvuloplasty, as the elastic limit can easily be exceeded when the balloon is fully inflated, potentially causing the balloon to rupture within the patient. Additionally, the balloon diameters can become too large for the valve being dilated causing rupture and tearing of both the valve and its adjacent structures.
In addition, prior art catheter balloons have been associated with mechanical injury to the cardiac chambers, especially near the ventricular apex, due to the forceful longitudinal movement of the inflated balloon across the valve and within the cardiac chamber as the heart beats. Blood, and the vascular wall surface, are inherently slippery against common catheter balloons further increasing the risk of significant balloon migration. As inflation fluid (contrast media) is introduced, the catheter balloon enlarges and eventually assumes a cylindrical or ovoid shape. This creates a tendency for the balloon to suddenly and uncontrollably pop in and out of the valve site and migrate deep into the left ventricle. In some situations, this sudden balloon movement following inflation has not only made it difficult to position accurately within the valve leaflets but again has led to damage and even catastrophic puncturing of the left ventricle.
Further, typical catheter balloon shapes tend to completely obstruct the flow of blood through the heart while inflated. Without perfusion through or around the catheter, the catheter balloon inflation time is limited to a few seconds before risking complications due to profound hypotension.
A further disadvantage of prior art valvuloplasty balloons is their frequent failure to restore adequate flexibility to the aortic valve leaflets. That is, mere dilation with these previous balloon designs may not be enough to adequately open the severely fibrosed and calcified leaflets. The prior art balloon catheters are cylindrical in shape when fully inflated and thus have their maximal inflated diameter limited by the narrower sinotubular ridge and valve annulus at the proximal and distal margins of the aortic root sinuses. Efforts to expand beyond these limits for enhanced valve opening can result in tearing of the aortic valve annulus, catastrophic aortic insufficiency or rupture of the aortic root. In addition, traditional balloon catheter methods generally result in eventual restenosis of the aortic valve leaflets, negating some or all of the regained flexibility.
Examples of some of these prior art catheter designs, as well as other related catheter designs are discussed and disclosed in the following U.S. patent documents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,327,736; 4,777,951; 4,787,388; 4,878,495; 4,819,751; 4,909,252; 4,986,830; 5,352,199; and 5,947,924.
What is needed is a balloon valvuloplasty catheter that overcomes all of the these disadvantages of the prior art. Indeed, what is needed is an invention that not only overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art in treating calcific aortic stenosis but also aortic stenosis resulting from congenitally abnormal valves and/or rheumatically injured valves.
Of particular need is a balloon configuration that has expansion characteristics that not only stabilize the valvuloplasty catheter at a desired location but that also provides the necessary a-traumatic expansion force to successfully perform the valvuloplasty. Moreover, it is desired to meet this need either with a single reinforced balloon configuration or a dual balloon configuration.